Thin wood shavings make the best tinder. The next time you go camping, consider throwing a pencil sharpener in your pack.

Sure, you can shave wood down for using as tinder with a good knife, but it’s still hard to get those shavings as thin as you can with a pencil sharpener. As Instructables user Caspos shows us, sharpeners are tiny and weigh next to nothing, so they’re easy to slip in with the rest of your gear. Look for one like this, which features two different sized holes and is made from magnesium. As you fire starters already know, magnesium shavings ignite easily, helping catch even slightly damp tinder. Just run the back of your knife against the sharpener to shave a tiny bit of magnesium onto the wood.